Weird World of Food: pizzagne

As my mission to find and taste the strangest and most wondrous concoctions the internet has to offer continues, this week I’m trying my hand at making pizzagne, an unusual combination of two of Italy’s most famous dishes.

It seems to me that the pizzagne is a dish that has been created in a bid to try and end the eternal struggle that many people face when it comes to deciding what they want for dinner.

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Should I have pizza or lasagne? Well, worry no longer as the pizzagne aims to solve this food conundrum, at least for people craving pizza and lasagne, by combining the best elements of both in an ingenious, if somewhat unhealthy, dish.

The pizzagne is created by finishing off the traditional, classic lasagne with a final, mouth-watering layer of pizza topping. It seems like such an obvious idea and, if I’m honest, I am surprised that it is something which I have not heard about sooner.

It is also one of the few dishes that I have found online which I am certain is going to be good before I have even cooked it. I mean how could a marriage of pizza and lasagne be anything other than delicious? I am convinced that, if it works, it will be amazing.

As I start browning my mince and making my red and white sauces for the lasagne I am feeling good about this recipe. I have always been a big fan of Italian food and I do love pizza and lasagne so I am desperate to try this weird combination. However, I am slightly concerned that, if it is as good as I am hoping it will be, I could become hooked on what is, essentially, an artery clogging delicacy.

I mix the tomato sauce into the mince and mushrooms and begin layering it with the lasagne sheets and white sauce in a dish. I then complete my pizzagne with a final layer of pizza topping. I am using the traditional mozzarella, pepperoni, mushrooms and olives combination but you can use whatever topping you like.

It looks fantastic and, after 30 minutes in the oven, it is finally time to give the pizzagne a taste.

Luckily it is as good as I had hoped it would be, a fantastic combination of the two dishes which marries their tastes together brilliantly.

So it seems the pizzagne could hold the key to solving the nightly battle faced by those who cannot decide what they want for their tea. Victory has never tasted so good.

If you would like to try making a pizzagne follow the recipe below.

500g mince

500g lasagne sheets

400g chopped tomatoes

A tin of cherry tomatoes

2 cloves of chopped garlic

A squirt of ketchup

8 mushrooms sliced

3 and a half heaped tablespoons of plain flour

2 tablespoons of butter

575ml of milk

small amount of grated cheese (optional)

Topping:

12 slices of pepperoni

pitted black olives, sliced

125g of mozzarella

4 mushrooms sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees centigrade

2. Brown the mince in a pan with some oil on a medium heat

3. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook for two minutes

4. Make a tomato sauce by heating some olive oil in a frying pan and adding 400g of chopped tomatoes, a tin of cherry tomatoes, two cloves of chopped garlic, a squirt of ketchup and a pinch of mixed herbs. Heat for 4-5 minutes and then add to the mince and mushrooms

5. To make the white sauce melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan on a medium heat. Take the pan off of the heat and add the plain flour, mixing until it becomes a ball. Add the milk and put the pan back on a medium heat. Whisk constantly until the sauce thickens. You can also add some grated cheese and/or white pepper although these are optional.

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